Sweet Hearts

Somehow I've managed to let 3 weeks slip by without updating my blog... Didn't realize that until just now. So much for me updating weekly, huh? In my defense, I have been busy with midterms and papers. In fact, a paper is the reason I am here right now. I have just one more to write, and then I'll have a break for a couple of weeks.

I said that a paper is the reason that I am blogging, and it is...sort of. More to the point, it is the avoidance of the writing of said paper that has compelled me to restore hope in my faithful readers who return day after day with bated breath to get a glimpse into my life. Well, here's a tidbit.

While employing one of my many other avoidance techniques, I came across an interesting article in the UW's student newspaper. The title was, "Valentine's Doom." The article basically bemoaned the plight of a single person on Valentine's Day - not really anything new. It was an entertaining piece, though, and one part in particular made me laugh. The writer brought up the topic of Sweet Hearts - you know, those little candy hearts with messages on them like, "Be Mine," "True Love," etc. She said that she thought it would be nice if someone came up with Sweet Hearts for singles. They could have messages like, "One is Fun," "You're Just Not That Into Anyone," and "Being a Nun Wouldn't Be So Bad." I thought it was hilarious, and not a bad idea. Someone should really do it. I'd buy them. Somehow, though, I'm not sure it would be a great idea to share those with your friends. A person could easily get insulted if given a candy heart that said, "Being a Nun Wouldn't Be So Bad." Well, I think I've procrastinated enough for now. After all, it's after 6 pm here and my 6-page paper is due tomorrow.

A few highlights

Hey. Here I am. Posting again. I feel that I have some making up to do for the lack of blogging in recent months. So, here are some highlights:

In late October, I bought a car. It still needs a name, though. I'll post a picture soon and you can start posting your votes!

Around the middle of November, I got a roommate. She already has a name, though. No votes needed here. Lindsay is a great roommate and it's nice not living alone anymore.

December was a busy month. After almost dying due to finals (hey, it could happen), I participated in an all-day Family Guy marathon (as mentioned in the previous post), and the following week we had a Lord of the Rings marathon. We actually managed to watch the extended versions of all three movies in one day. Also, my brother surprised us all by coming home from Spain for Christmas. Hooray! A week before Christmas, while cooking some naan to go with the curry my brother and I were making, I burned my hand with hot oil. Not hooray. That hurt. A lot. About 2 hours later, I noticed that the burn was looking purplish in places and it looked like it might be blistering. Thinking that maybe this wasn't a good thing, I asked my mom to take me to the ER. About 2 1/2 hours later, I left the hospital with a bandaged hand, a prescription for percocet, and orders to return the next day so they could check for signs of infection and change the dressing. As it turned out, it was a second-degree burn.

Winter quarter started on January 3rd. The break went by way too fast. I'm already in the 3rd week of the quarter and I have 2 5-page papers due in the next week. I haven't started on either one, of course, but in my defense, one of them hasn't actually been assigned. You know, I thought about writing, "In my defence." One of my profs is English. Surprisingly enough, I'm still actually learning in that class. I guess it just goes to show that you can learn something from anyone, even a Brit! Anyway, the paper in that class will be assigned tomorrow and due on the 26th. Nice, right? Oh well.

My lappy broke. Actually, it was just the CD rom. Whenever I take my computer in for repairs, I usually back up all my information first. However, since the CD rom wasn't functioning, I didn't do so this time. Of course, this was the one time that they actually reformatted the hard drive. I just got my computer back 2 days ago (I brought it in around the end of December) and discovered this. Not fun times. Luckily, I backed everything up in July when I took it in to get it checked out. Now if I could just find the CDs with all of the information on them...

In other news, I'm going back to Europe for spring break! I'll be in Madrid from March 15-22, then England from March 22-28. I'm so excited!

Well, there's a brief recap for you. I'll try to get back to posting every week. I'm only working 20-25 hrs per week this quarter. I averaged 30 per week last quarter and that was just too much. So hopefully, I won't lose what little sanity I have left. Bye for now.

School is out, finals are over, and I'm never going back. Hooray!

Just to clarify, by "never" I mean "not for 2 1/2 weeks." I am so tired. I wrote papers in lieu of finals for all of my classes this quarter, and they were all due on Monday. So, I've been fairly stressed out for the last few weeks because I just haven't had time to write them. I was up all night Sunday night finishing up the papers, then I left at around 9:30 am to go turn them in. After that, I came home for a couple of hours, then went to work and worked until 10:30 pm. And due to my work schedule, I sustained that sleep deprivation for the remainder of the week. I finally slept in a little on Thursday, only to have a Family Guy marathon with some friends until around 4 am on Friday morning - then I had to work at 11. Genius, I know. Oh well, I'll get some sleep eventually. But for now, I've got to get ready for work.

Atrocious

I know it's been approximately eleventy-billion years since my last post - and for that I apologize. However, this post is still going to be brief. The reason for this is that I have to write 2 papers and a take-home exam in the next 8 days. All in all, it amounts to about 30 pages. Not only that, but I'm scheduled to work 30 hours next week. So I hope you can understand my brevity- perhaps even have a little pity for me. Hey, I'll throw the party and look pitiful, all you have to do is come with violin in hand.

So, why am I choosing to post now? Two reasons: 1) Procrastination/avoidance technique; 2) I came across a sentence (in the loose sense of the word - it had a period) in a scholarly journal that was shockingly atrocious. Here it is: "For example, part-time workers were awarded the same rights as full-time workers in the United Kingdom in the 1990s by the House of Lords applying EU-based law saying that to do otherwise would be to discriminate against women (because the majority of part-time workers were women), several years before this entitlement was clarified in the Part-Time Workers Directive." The question I pose is this: How did such a monstrosity find its way into an academic journal? Incidentally, the article is from Social Politics, published by the Oxford University Press. If you want the rest of the citation, let me know. I'll even give it to you in MLA format. But for now, I'd better get back to my studies - I do my best work in the middle of the night.

My couch is a hungry little fella

I got an MP3 player for Christmas last year. It was really nice to have for the commute to and from school every day. Actually, to be honest, I almost never let a week go by without skipping school at least one day - so "every day" is probably not the appropriate phrase here. But that's another story.

Anyway, I am once again commuting to and from school and having that MP3 player made such a difference - the first day of class, that is. You see, upon arriving home after that first day, I discovered that someone had stolen it from me. I'd had it in my pocket, and my suspicion was that someone on the crowded bus lifted it without me even noticing (obviously, I wasn't using it at the time). I searched all through my purse and backpack to make sure, but it wasn't there. The poor little guy was a goner.

A few weeks later (aka last night) I was performing that age-old ritual that men and women around the world continue to perform to this day - I was hunting for the remote. I looked under the couch, around the couch, retraced my steps to figure out where I might have laid it, but to no avail. So I decided to do it all again. As I was peering underneath the couch cushions, I spotted something small and round. Upon further examination, I discovered that it bore a striking resemblance to one of the earpieces of my beloved old MP3 player. The thought of the little guy brought a single tear to my eye. "No," I thought, "I'm not going to cry. He wouldn't want me to." Quickly I blinked the tear away in an effort to do justice to the memory of my little friend. As I did so, I leaned in closer, attempting to identify the object. There was a cord attached to it. No! It couldn't be... but it was! Frantically I grasped at the earpiece and cord, hoping against hope that it was still plugged in to the MP3 player. I was a little afraid to put my hand inside the jaws of the couch, but if there was a chance that my funny little friend was there, no way could I leave him hanging. So I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and plunged my hand into the depths of the couch, following the cord. Before I knew it, I was up to my shoulder. I broke into a cold sweat. "Think of happy things," I told myself, "remember the good times you used to have with your MP3 player, that'll pull you through." I took a deep breath, reached down a little further - and there he was! We were reunited! The good times weren't over after all!

Now, I know you're probably wondering if I ever found my remote. The answer is "yes." It was way underneath the couch. Yeah, that couch is a tricky little character. He's got shifty eyes and I don't trust him. But I think the real question is: Why am I spending my time writing this blog when I have a 5-page outline for a 15-page paper due on Monday and I'm not even sure when I'm going to find the time to write that? I'm not going to answer that. I'm just going to end this post.